I solve throat and voice problems from the viewpoint of a kineticist.

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Monthly Archives: May 2014

Many people have opposing opinions about how boating can relate to and influence an individual’s vocalization.
I’ll scientifically and unilaterally explain this.
I have 22 categories that influence breathing and vocalization. Let’s try to figure out who is right.(12)

Part 12 is “Boat”
One female singer said to me, “I do not like to sing on a boat, because it makes my voice sound bad.”
Is that true, or just her own opinion?
I sometimes classify vocalization as a sport, an exercise such as when you play catch or dribble a basketball. Both use effort, movement and are hard to do for some people.
Therefore, singing on shaking boat is somewhat more of a challenge than singing on the ground.
There are three reasons surrounding this fact.
1.The shaking of the boat affects the vibrating vocal cord
2.The fear and stress from this shaking, strains the muscles around the larynx
3.Seasickness directly affects vocalization
I believe, singular or combined, these reasons cause the issue of many singers not singing their best when performing on a boat.
However, this means that not only boating makes the voice worse. These issues (especially shaking) can occur in any situation where the singer is not on still ground.
Actually a lot of good singers, sing on boats. Some give great concerts on cruise ships or passenger boats.
In another case a singer stated, “I like to sing on the boat, I learned to use the shaking to my advantage. The shaking of the boat adds a unique effect to my singing.” In conclusion, singing while on a boat is a matter of preference and performance ability.
These are the pros and cons regarding the effects and influence, riding on a boat can have on vocalization.

Many people have opposing opinions about how flying on a plane can relate to and influence an individual’s vocalization.
I’ll scientifically and unilaterally explain this.
I have 22 categories that influence breathing and vocalization. Let’s try to figure out who is right.(11)

Part 11 is “Plane”
Do you have problems with your voice after flying on a plane? You might be surprised by these facts, but I’ve faced this issue before.
When I had a trip to Indonesia, the plane lowered its altitude in preparation for landing,and my friend suddenly shouted, “my ear hurts!” It seemed he was having intense ear pain.
He instantly used nasal drops, swallowed hard a few times while pinching his nose, and the ear pain faded away.
After the plain landed at the airport, when he spoke, I noticed that his voice was different than usual. Although, he, himself did not notice. Shortly after the return flight we went to see a doctor, who diagnosed with him as having aerotitis. Aerotitus is a condition, when painful sensations in the ears occur during a flight and are usually caused by the changes in air pressure inside the cabin of the airplane. There is an air pocket located inside the middle ear, and it expands when the plane takes off or lands which leads to the stretching of the eardrum. Flying on a plane can be more comfortable, and problems with this issue can be avoided by utilizing certain methods. Such as wearing ear plugs, chewing gum and/or taking decongestants before and after the flight. Decongestants are very effective, because it shrinks the swollen membranes in the sinus and the ear.
It is rare for the condition of aerotitus to cause problems with vocalization. In this case, his voice sounded muffled and was directly affected, because air was not passing through the ears normally.
The vocal cords can easily get swollen during a flight, due to low pressure. Long plane rides are known to be very dry, (lacking moisture in the cabin) which can can dry out the mouth and throat, both effecting the voice. So, it is important to drink plenty of fluids when flying.
If you have a concert overseas, or plan to sing after flying, please refrain from vocalizing soon after the plane lands.
Of course, experiencing these issues varies, and depends on the individual.
These are the pros and cons about how vocalization can be affected, and issues relating to the voice when flying on a plane.

Part 10 is “Cigarettes”
Everybody know that cigarettes are bad for your health.
Smoking has always held a bad image, such as the risk of lung cancer/laryngeal cancer(often fetal) and causing environmental air pollution.
How about the effects short or long term, relating to the voice?
I’ve had so many chances to examine singers, and I’ve realizing a lot of singers smoke cigarettes.
So I’ve have two different opinions from smokers who are professional singers.
The first singer, smokes daily and cannot quit. The second singer socially smokes, such as after writing a song or performing in concert. Claiming to use smoking as a form of stress relief, or as a way to relax from mental exhaustion.
However, of course, there are many adverse effects.
Cigarettes burn tobacco and contain nicotine. The burning tobacco produces smoke, and this smoke is composed of small particles and chemicals. When you aspirate this smoke, such as inhaling and exhaling, the particles attack and dry out the mucosa in your throat.
Apparently, this does cause breathing problems and directly effects vocalization.
I therefore suggest, you have enough water and stay well hydrated when smoking. Please take small sips of water, little by little, similar to sipping whiskey.

It’s true that many famous singers are happy when smoking, and are aware that it is not good for their health or voice.
These are just some of the pros and cons relating to cigarettes, and how smoking can effect vocalization.

Part 9 is “Gum”
I’ve asked a few people if they thought their voices sounded better after chewing gum, and they answered: “It does feel easier to let out the voice after chewing gum,” “I can speak smoother when chewing gum,” and, “It keeps my throat from drying out.”
Meanwhile, some of them answered: “I’m often thirsty after chewing gum.” Also, “I feel my chin gets tired as time passes, and think chewing gum is not good for the voice.”
I’ll explain their opinions in more detail.
●“It feels easier to let out the voice after chewing gum.” Because…Chewing gum warms up the muscles around chin, and also the Suprahyoid muscles. If you chew gum, you can warm up these muscles subconsciously.
● “I can speak smoother when chewing gum.”… Chewing gum affects speaking, because the muscles used for chewing are linked to the muscles used for speaking.
●“Chewing gum helps keep my throat from drying out.”… Yes, because the secretion of saliva produced increases while chewing gum.
●“I feel my chin gets tired, and think chewing gum is not good for the voice.”…The action of chewing gum needs muscle movement, any continuous action will cause muscles to tire over time.
●“I’m often thirsty after chewing gum.”…Scientifically, this claim is inaccurate, and should be the opposite as the above claim reported. Because, the secretion of saliva increases when chewing gum. The the back of the throat could become itchy, depending on the ingredients in the gum. Although these ingredients are not bad for your health, you should be careful if you have a sensitive voice.
These are the pros and cons relating to, how chewing gum influences the voice.

Part 8 is “Dance”
This is story that the soprano singer had recently shared with me.
“When I took the lesson of the flamenco dance, I was not comfortable and sounded off when I let out my voice. When I changed the style of dance, and started taking Hula lessons, my voice returned back to normal. So, because of this issue, I’ve considered whether dance is good for the voice or not.”
I can compare the art of dancing with sports, because dancing is basically the same as an active sport.
There are two particular factors when dancing, which are not present in sports. They are as follows:(1)The use of music
(2)Rhythm
Actually, it’s difficult to determine that answer by evaluating only the above factors.
I studied the differences between the flamenco and hula dance and I’ve found a critical difference. Which is, the direction of applied forces in the active motion.
The hula dance uses slower smoother movements in a horizontal direction. Meanwhile, the flamenco is a faster and harder movement in a vertical direction. This vertical movement can cause problems.
I observed that the larynx moved up and down when she stepped and jumped while performing the flamenco dance. The reason is because the thyroid cartilage is suspended by the stylopharyngeus muscle, the stylohyoid muscle is in the air, and the throat hangs (just below the ear) down from the temporal styloid process.
The human body has “reflexes,” which happens when tension occurs in a muscle. This reaction rapidly prevents the muscle from damage when applying force to the muscle drastically. This reflex is a physiologically protective response, and also is true when relating the muscles of larynx.
For this reason, muscles when in suspension, contract reflexively at an instant when the larynx is descending.
This can occur with minimal movements. If you repeat a movement over and over again, the muscles of the larynx harden, due to the muscles contracting continuously, affecting the throat and the ability to sing.
Additionally, classical ballet also requires a lot of vertical movements, such as jumping and/or spinning. I do not think that these activities necessarily make your voice bad, but be mindful, many people’s voices have been effected when learning the flamenco or ballet dance.
These are pros and cons of how dance can relate and effect vocalization.

Note:People often ask me “Do people who perform ballet have a softer muscle in their throat, because their body is really flexible?”.
I cannot say that flexibility of the body necessarily corresponds to the flexibility of the throat. I’ve observed and treated a professional dancer, who also teaches ballet, that has a problem and suffers from hyperfunctional dysphonia.
In that case, I believe the flexibility of limbs did not directly link to the larynx or that specific disorder.

Many people have opposing opinions about how the use of a bicycle relates and can influence an individual’s vocalization.
I’ll scientifically and unilaterally explain this.
I have 22 categories that influence breathing and vocalization. Let’s try to figure out who is right.(7)
Part1:gargle
Part2:humidifier
Part3:aspirator
Part4:sports
Part5:alcohol
Part6:sexPart7:bicycle
Part8:dance
Part9:gum
Part10:cigarettes
Part11:plane
Part12:boat
Part13:turtleneck
Part14:tie
Part15:yawning
Part16:humming
Part17:whispering
Part18:nap
Part19:pillow
Part20:roller coaster
Part21:karaoke
Part22:XXX

Part 7 is “Bicycle”
A singer I spoke with said that, “I always have a problem with my voice after riding bicycle.”
So I asked other singers their opinion on the subject and most of them said that, “Nothing changes in my voice after riding a bicycle.”
I’ve investigated what caused the issue on the 1st singer.
I checked his laryngx 10 minutes before and after riding bicycle, and I did not see any difference. But, I asked him how he rode his bicycle and figured out immediately why he had a problem with his voice after riding.
The reason was… that he always rode the bicycle so fast, like a racing, and the passing air easily entered his mouth. This caused his throat to itch. If you ride bicycle too fast the wind surely hits you.
Furthermore, dust and car-exhaust fumes are also not good for the throat.
This situation made him say, “I always have problem with the voice after riding bicycle.”.
A precaution is to wear full face mask or helmet, but it might be hard to use the mask long time, because wearing a mask decrease the inflow of air.
I recommend you reduce your speed when you ride a bicycle.
This is also both in favor and against.

Part 6 is “Sex”
There are two things that are essential to a human’s life cycle, they are: sustaining life and producing offspring.
The act of living, or sustaining life refers to the humans body’s natural need to survive and thrive. Such as breathing, eating, sleeping, and producing offspring. Reproducing is vital, of course, to keep the human species going and populate our planet. Humans are not able to use the process of parthenogenesis. Parthenogenesis is a form of asexual reproduction in which growth and development of embryos occur without fertilization. Plants, arachnids, and some reptiles have the ability to reproduce without reproductive behaviors. Humans must perform reproductive behavior to reproduce. We refer to this as “sex” or “sexual intercourse.” Humans perform the behavior of sex for two reasons, reproduction and pleasure.
I will discuss the act of this behavior, not the science of reproduction. Primarily focusing on how sex can effect health and vocalization. This content is intended to be a serious informative discussion about sex.
There are two factors of sex that relate to and also influence, health and vocalization.
The first one is movement. The second one is the sexual hormones involved. I will begin with talking about the action of the movements involved with sex.
On average, sex can consume up to 300K calories per hour. Of course, the value can vary in men and women. These variables fluctuate, depending on the amount of energy and time is invested in the act.
The 300K calories is roughly equal to eating one whole cake, half an hour of jogging, or one hour of walking. Sexual intercourse is often classified as a moderate workout. Due to the activity of exercising the muscles involved. Steady, heavy, or rhythmic breathing during sex, combined with vocalization, can also be compared to and shows similarities to vocal exercises.
There are no problems with singing after this kind of moderate to significant exercise, and I can say that normal/average sex does not affect the voice in terms of sports.
The second factor we will discuss is sexual hormones, and the muscles involved.
The act of sex increases the release of testosterone or estrogen and progesterone.
Testosterone (a male hormone) effects the growth of muscle mass and strength. The vocal cord is made up of muscle and mucosa. Can having more muscle mass improve the voice? We discussed previously that increased size in muscle mass effects only ability, not performance.
If there is a gain in muscle mass in the vocal cord, it will increase in weight. Which could result in less control in the sounds produced, make the voice sound lower in tone, or obstruct the vibrations of the vocal cord.
The muscle’s movements and kinematic performance are significantly more important in the production of a good voice rather than the size of the muscles used.
The glottis is opened and closed by the posterior cricoarytenoid muscle, the lateral cricoarytenoid muscle, the transverse arytenoid muscle, the oblique arytenoid muscle and the thyroarytenoid muscle. The vocal cord is elongated by the cricothyroid muscle.
Therefore, if the health and condition of these muscles are improved with movement (general use or exercise), vocalization quality will also improve.
Estrogen (a female hormone) is secreted by the mature follicle from the ovaries. Estrogen is relevant to pregnancy, and estrogen is important when relating to the voice.
It is known that reduced secretion causes swelling, and swelling also occurs on the vocal cords too.
If the vocal cord swells, it causes the voice to become hoarse and lower in tone.
Therefore, in women, sexual hormones can directly and significantly affect the voice.
However, it’s still not clear whether sex can increase, decrease, balance or offset the secretion of the female hormone estrogen. Mainly because results from scientific studies vary from each individual.
One male opera singer claims that, “If you have sex a few minutes before a concert, your voice will sound better.”
Contrasting, other singers have stated, “if you abstain from sex, your senses are finely honed and its possible to produce a more attractive voice.”
Sexual activity is an important and relevant activity to human life and appears to impact on the mental, physical and social health as well as the quality of life of the individual.

Considering that sexual activity may be one of the most regularly practiced activities throughout an individual’s lifetime, it is important to inform and discuss this topic.
These opinions, reflect the pros and cons relating to sex and vocalization.